Think about modern tennis and the images that come to mind are of players sculpted in gyms, booming serves and acrobatic returns. Size and power are of paramount importance while deftness is relegated to an added virtue.
Among the men, Japan’s Kei Nishikori is the only player in the world top 10 who is under six feet tall, but even he is 5’10”, which is considered above average for an Asian. Among women, as many as eight players in the top 10 are 5’8” or better. Which is what makes Dominika Cibulkova a standout pro in this age of cut-throat competition.
Slovakia’s Cibulkova struck a blow for smaller players by winning the season-ending WTA Finals 6-3 6-4 on Sunday against Angelique Kerber.
Standing just 1.60 metres (5ft 3inches) tall, Cibulkova is a throwback to an age when women’s tennis was ruled by smaller players who relied entirely on their foot speed and court craft to win.
Told she was too small to make it as a professional, Cibulkova ignored the naysayers and went about chasing her dreams with extra determination to prove the doubters wrong.
“When I was younger, it was something that motivated me to go forward. A lot of people in the club and around me, they were like, ‘(you’re) too small to play tennis’... but they underestimated me,” Cibulkova told reporters after winning the WTA’s end of year championship, a prestigious tournament restricted to the top eight players in the world.
“This is something I was dealing with since I started to play tennis. I think I was always brave with my height. I was just maybe stubborn and brave. I really wanted to play tennis. Nobody could tell me different.”
Cibulkova’s surprise victory was also a win for perseverance. Although she made the Australian Open final in 2014, she has been beset with problems ever since.
Ranked as low as 66th in the world in February after struggling with injuries in 2015, Cibulkova only just snuck into the WTA Finals when she won this month’s Linz Open in Austria, earning this season’s WTA Comeback Player of the Year award.
She was facing an early exit when she lost her first two round-robin matches in Singapore but suddenly turned things around, winning her third match and advancing to the semi-finals then beating Svetlana Kuznetsova and finally Kerber to capture the biggest title of her career and rise to fifth in the world.
“When you struggle and you come back and all your hard work pays off, that’s why I play tennis and why I love sport,” she said.
Cibulkova was presented with the Billie Jean King trophy and a cheque for $2.05mn, the biggest payday of her life, for her Singapore win. It was a perfect riposte by a player who was told she wouldn’t be able to make it big on the professional circuit.